Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
Transport

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### Transport

#### DNS-based mail handling

In the modern Internet, the first step in mail delivery is to parse each recipient address, and perform a DNS lookup on the domain portion. Thus `baccala@FreeSoft.org` will trigger a DNS lookup on `FreeSoft.org`. The lookup will be first for an MX (mail exchanger) record, then a normal A (address) lookup if this fails. MX records contain a preference value (to chose among multiple MX records for a particular domain), and the DNS name of the host receiving mail for this domain. This entire procedure is documented in RFC 974.

- POP-3 Protocol Overview
- SMTP Protocol Overview

Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
Transport